Leaving Europe turned out to be a fortunate situation for the Dorobantu family.

And the Tecumseh High School football team even benefitted from their decision.

Titus and Ioana Dorobantu had a dream, like so many others, of life in the United States. It wasn't going to be a simple path to the USA, but it was a path they chose to pursue, and they're so glad they did.

In the mid- to late-1990s, the Dorobantus got serious about their leaving Chisineu-Cris, Romania, a small town on the extreme western edge of the country bordering Hungary. However, there was only one way to legally leave, and that was through somewhat of a lottery.

"In 1997 they introduced green card visas and there were 50,000 available, but you had to fill out applications and then they would choose so many to distribute," recalled Ioana Dorobantu. "We tried for five or six years to get one and on the sixth try we finally got one, and we knew then we were going to start a new life in the United States."

On December 14, 2002, the Dorobantus arrived in their new adopted country and settled in Clinton, Mich., where Titus found work as a truck driver.

Their only child, 7-year-old Cris, was in new surroundings, having to make new friends, enroll in a new school, and begin his life exploring his new life. It didn't take long to adapt to the new environs.

While the family loved Clinton and especially the teachers and administrators in the Clinton schools, opportunities arose and the family would eventually move to Tecumseh, and Titus found new work, as did Ioana as a housekeeper in Ann Arbor.

"We didn't speak a word of English when we got here, and the people in Clinton were just amazing helping us out and making our transition very easy," said Ioana.

"I loved it right away," said Cris, who in his 10 years in this country has worked diligently to become one of the feared defensive lineman on the Tecumseh football team that will play in a Division 3 regional final Friday night at Battle Creek Harper Creek.

Not really an athlete back in his native Romania — "I played a little soccer but not seriously," he said — it didn't take him long to get the football bug. American football, that is.

He began attending University of Michigan football games and learning more and more about the sport, soon finding himself on the field as a player in the sixth grade with his new friends after arriving in Tecumseh. His first coach, former Tecumseh head varsity coach Bob Ondrovick, took Cris under his wing and began to mold him into the player he has become today.

"Coach Ondrovick was a huge help to me back then," Cris said of his first football coach.

Page 2 of 3 - Through hard work and dedication to his new love, Dorobantu began to feel comfortable with his new life and especially football. He had grown to be 6-foot-1 by this time, not knowing how much more growing he would do. He now stands 6-foot-4 and weighs in at 240 pounds and is an intimidating force on Tecumseh's defensive line, where he has more than 40 tackles and nine sacks this fall, earning him first-team All-SEC White Division honors.

"It has really come easy to me. I tend to pick up things pretty quickly, and football was easy compared to learning a new language," Dorobantu said. "In the seventh and eight grade, I played both defensive tackle and defensive end, and I liked both because I got to knock people over, and usually I was bigger than the guys across the line from me."

Dorobantu was well on his way to being a physical presence in Tecumseh football circles, and he became an even better player after enrolling in a taekwondo class with master Tomas Sandoval in Tecumseh.

"In taekwondo you learn as much about the mental approach to a sport as the physical one, and that has helped me so much with my confidence," Cris said of his experience with the martial art. Like most things he has tried, Dorobantu excelled, so much so that he has a black belt, was a state champion and was ranked third in the nation in his division.

Prior to his junior season, Cris attended his fourth University of Michigan camp and was named one of the top defensive lineman there. He has already begun receiving letters from colleges, not only about football, but his academic excellence. He is an A-B student at Tecumseh and already knows he will play college football somewhere.

During Michigan's 13-10 loss to the University of Toledo back in 2008, the Dorobantus were at their computer and they found a site where fans could ask questions of the Michigan players, and when they found someone from their native land on the roster, they decided to submit a question to him — it turned out to be punter Zoltan Mesko, the current punter for the New England Patriots.

"He asked for us to meet him, and so we did, and he has become a friend of our family," Cris said. "He didn't expect to hear from anyone from Romania, so he was real surprised and welcomed us and we've been friends since."

If things work out the way Cris wants, he will excel as a college player and perhaps play beyond college. He possesses a great combination of strength, quickness and work ethic that would make any college coach happy.

Just a tiny minority of high school players actually go on to the biggest stage of all in their careers, but if Dorobantu should be so fortunate to accomplish that goal, he can call his friend Mesko and get pointers about what life is like in the NFL.

Page 3 of 3 - "Our main goal in coming to America was to give Cris the best life possible," said Ioana of her son. "It has been everything we had dreamed of and more so far."